Developer presents plans for 500-unit complex

Friday

May 25, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 25, 2007 at 10:21 AM

ASHLAND - Developers promised to work with the town, while officials and residents vowed to "keep 'em honest" last night during an informal discussion about plans to build 500 apartments on Megunko Hill near the commuter rail station.

Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff

Developers promised to work with the town, while officials and residents vowed to "keep 'em honest" last night during an informal discussion about plans to build 500 apartments on Megunko Hill near the commuter rail station.

"I lived and breathed this a couple of years ago, and I came tonight to make sure certain things don't fall through the cracks," said former Planning Board Chairwoman Gena Blinderman.

The developer, Jefferson Partners Incorporated (JPI), last came before the Planning Board eight years ago with full plans, but withdrew them without prejudice, said Jefferson attorney Robert C. Buckley, of Riemer & Braunstein LLP in Burlington.

They're back, and Buckley plans to submit a site plan application in 10 days, he told Planning Board members. That upset Town Planner Stephen Kerlin because that would leave the Planning Board with about 23 out of 45 allotted days to consider it.

Buckley said developers are willing to extend that period, as it "does not behoove us if we get to the end of that period and you're going to deny us." "We're not playing a game, trying to push you against the wall; we want to stick to a timeline. There is incentive on both sides to work together," he said.

Kerlin is worried about potential flooding, insufficient time for a hearing, and the developer's ability to skirt certain responsibilities because attorneys over the last five years have successfully "gutted the impact of site-plan review." Town officials cannot demand as much from developers applying for a site plan permit today as they could when Jefferson first applied eight years ago, he said.

"It gives them a big benefit," he said.

He and Blinderman said they want to make sure the development is more than just a bunch of apartment buildings, and that the site's layout creates a reasonable transportation alternative for renters.

They worry developers will never add the golf course, shops, and 190 age-restricted housing units that originally helped sell the project to officials, Blinderman said.

"I'm serious about that golf course - that was a very serious amenity to the town," Blinderman said.

Buckley said the golf course would be the responsibility of landowner Robert E. Gayner.

Resident Sara N. Hines, an architect and urban designer, was unsparing in her criticism of the plan.

"I see a lousy, unthought-through site plan ... If density is done well, it's very good, if it's done badly, it's a pain in the neck.

"There's so much asphalt in there - it's like a one-size fits all, shove-'em-in-there ... I'm looking at a bunch of box-cars plopped on there," she said.

There is too much potential to waste, she said, and the town wants an excellent and aesthetically pleasing development.

Five hundred apartments should have more differentiation than what developers are currently planning, Hines said.

"This is an example of endless, long roadways with no imagination," she said.